The present disclosure generally relates to cooling systems and, more particularly, to capillary expansion tubes implemented in cooling systems.
This section is intended to introduce the reader to various aspects of art that may be related to various aspects of the present disclosure, which are described below. This discussion is believed to be helpful in providing the reader with background information to facilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the present disclosure. Accordingly, it should be understood that these statements are to be read in this light, and not as admissions of prior art.
Generally, heat exchangers may be implemented in cooling systems, such as air conditioning systems, chiller systems, refrigeration systems, and/or the like. In operation, a heat exchanger may facilitate energy (e.g., heat) exchange between a circulated refrigerant (e.g., coolant) and a surrounding fluid (e.g., water or air). In particular, while circulated in the cooling system, the refrigerant may be cycled through various phases. For example, in a condenser heat exchanger, the refrigerant may enter a condenser coil as a vapor, condense, and exit the condenser coil as a liquid. Additionally, in an evaporator heat exchanger, the refrigerant may enter an evaporator coil as a liquid, evaporate (e.g., vaporize), and exit the evaporator coil as a vapor (e.g., gas).
While some energy exchange may result due to temperature difference (e.g., sensible heat), much more of the energy exchange between the fluid and the refrigerant in a heat exchanger may occur due to phase change (e.g., latent heat) of the refrigerant. For example, in an evaporator heat exchanger, phase change of the refrigerant from a liquid phase to a gas phase may extract heat from air flowing around the evaporator coil, thereby cooling the air. Generally, heat extraction efficiency of a heat exchanger may be dependent at least in part on refrigerant mass flow distribution in the heat exchanger and/or the cooling system. However, in some instances, refrigerant mass flow in a cooling system may be affected by operational parameters of the cooling system, such as operating capacity of a compressor, air flow distribution across the evaporator, variability in flow resistance between parallel refrigerant flow paths through the evaporator. Additionally or alternatively, refrigerant mass flow in a cooling system may be affected by implementation of the cooling system, such as implementation of an evaporator heat exchanger and/or implementation of an expansion device that supplies refrigerant to the evaporator heat exchanger.